
Rachel and Esther, healthy, happy and loved
Misdiagnosed with a serious disorder at birth, the parents of Rachel and Esther promptly abandoned them. The twin girls went to live in an orphanage until they were 3, when they were transferred to an Orphan’s Tear-supported group home for orphaned and abandoned children with special needs.
Rachel and Esther have now been correctly diagnosed with a few cognitive and physical delays, but they are making steady progress thanks to therapy and special education.
The girls were made available for adoption for many years, but with the Guatemalan government blocking international adoptions and very few Guatemalan families adopting children, their chances of finding a family were slim.
That all changed last December, however, when Rachel and Esther were adopted! We’re so happy they are now part of a wonderful Guatemalan family that loves and cares for them! Rachel and Esther are now enjoying the blessing God intended for all children, and the Orphan’s Tear Ministry was hard at work in 2015 to create the same kind of happy ending for thousands of other children around the world. As part of that process, we continued to support about 1,000 children in orphanages in 10 countries around the world through our sponsorship program, which provided education, food, clothing, medical care, and Christian nurture.
But we also provided over $175,000 in loans to orphanages, foster families, and group homes to start businesses that will enable them to ultimately become self-sufficient. And we hosted a number of conferences and meetings about foster care and alternative care to orphanage directors and families.
We know, of course, that a child is better off in a family than in an orphanage. So we’ve begun the process of reintegrating children back into families. Through community development in the poor mountain villages where the children originate, we’ve been working to eliminate the reasons why they left so they can safely return.
And to ensure success, we’ve partnered with an Australian ministry that’s already doing this in 8 other countries. Three homes began the process in 2015 and we now have over a dozen beginning this year.
We’re excited about the awesome changes coming to the Orphan’s Tear Ministry in 2016!